Newspaper Page Text
MARCH 2, 1957.
THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
FIVE
Jottings ...
(By BARBARA C. JENCKS)
WHO IS the all-American girl?
/hat is your concept of her? We
ear much talk about the all-
.merican girl t\ - pe. Is it com-
limentary to be called an all-
.merican girl? Let us look at
ae qualifications which appear
to go with the title. In aa recent
issue of ‘'Life” magazine ten pag
es were devoted to presenting the
all-American girl at her most
beautiful best.” It would seem
then that physical attributes had
much to do with such selections.
“She is what most women in U.
S. want to be.” the sub title said.
The all-American girl- we gather
ed from the introduction, must
have an unaffected naturalness,
healthy fresh good looks and de
votion to the out-of-doors. In
some sections of the country, the
picture of Miss All-American va
ries. She would be tall, athletic
looking in one section; demure
and graceful in another and ele
gantly poised in still another.
However young women from all
sections of the U. S. radiate the
“unaffected naturalness that
through movie, and magazine
has become the world-wide sym
bol of the all-American girl”
states the article. It goes no fur
ther. It seems then that we are
all-American women or girls only
so far as our skin has a peaches
and cream complexion, our eyes
sparkle and our hair shines. No
thing was said abgut, inner-
beauty or strength. The all-
American girl then would be the
pretty debutante rather than the
dedicated social worker or nurse.
AND SO we see what has be
come as accepted as the a 11-
American girl type. She is some
thing of a cardboard paper doll.
Unaffected naturalness has be
come “world-wide symbol of the
all-American girl.” The classic
cashmere sweater and tweed skirt
is her uniform. She must be a
whizz on the tennis or golf course
and naturally we expect her to
play bridge and dance and have
a conversational acquaintance
with French. There are legions
who school their young daughters
to the belief that this is all ye
need know. Who then aspires to
the all-American girl title? I sup
pose there are some who really
would prefer to be called pretty
or well-dressed than fine, good
and lead worthwhile lives. It is
the chase for the external and the
good appearance.
MY VOTE for the all-American
girl would go toward the young
collegiate who works her Way
through college; the secretary who
struggles with sleep each morn
ing but wins and assists at daily
Mass: the student who gives up
cigarettes and sends the money
to missions; the one who spends
her holidays and ; Saturdays do
ing volunteer work in the hos
pitals; and the nurse and teacher
whose time is governed by the
need of the moment not the
clock. I wouldn't care what kind
of hair cut or complexion or fig
ure. And what about those all-
American nuns who no longer
wear the classic sweater and
skirt but are swathed in yards of
black serge not for fashion’s sake
but for God and neighbor’s sake.
If anyone was to receive the all-
American salutation, it would be
these women from California, Il
linois, Texas and Rhode Island
who give their lives “Pro Deo et
Pro Patria.”
WHO IS the all-American girl
in my mind? I borrow the eulogy
of the valiant woman from the
Book of Wisdom to paraphrase
her. “Who shall find a valiant
woman? Far and from the utter
most coasts is the price of her. . .
She hath girded her loins with
strength . . . Strength and beauty
are her clothing . . . She hath op
ened her mouth to wisdom and
the law of clemency is on her
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BACKDROP-
(Continued from Page 4)
“must” television programs—like
the Friday night fights—consume
all their free hours.
The work day is shorter than
it ever has been and we all have
more leisure than our forefathers
had, but none for reading.
ON THE MOVE
Allied to this obsession that
we have so little time, Miss Wat
kins notes, is our compulsion to
be on the move. Americans spend
billions erecting and furnishing
homes and then spend as little
time in them as they possibly
can. And on the few evenings
when they do stay home, the
mere thought of sitting down
with a book frightens them.
--*;Most of us, writes Miss Wat
kins, seem to believe “that there
is a kind of idleness about read
ing and thinking over that we
have read; and that it is wrong
to be idle. Here in America we
have some idea that unless we
are physically active, we are be
ing idle. And we carry this no
tion to such an absurd degree,
that many of us imagine that
spending an entire afternoon at
a card table is somehow being
less idle than spending it alone
with a book.”
A HOPELESS SITUATION?
Booksellers tell us that the
sales of the Bible, the greatest
of all books, exceed those of any
other and increase year by year.
If this be true—and there is no
reason to dispute the claim—
who is reading it?
The ignorance among Catholics
of Sacred Scripture was the sub
ject of a recent address to a
group of Catholic pro fessional
men by Father Martin C. D’Arcy,
the brilliant English Jesuit. He
told about encountering one
Catholic who thought Sodom and
Gomorrah were brother and sis
ter. The priest may have been
speaking in jest, but who can
deny that today the Bible is lit
tle read?
Is it possible, we may ask, for
modern Americans to return to
the reading habits of their fore
fathers? Or is the situation that
exists today just as hopeless as
the situation in England appear
ed to Belloc in 1911? If the an
swer must be in the affirmative,
then we shall have to continue
to bemoan the paradox that the
most “literate” country in the
world is in grave danger of be
coming a nation of illiterates.
tongue. Favor is deceitful and the
beauty is vain: the woman that
feareth the Lord, she shall be
praised.” That is the kind of
women we would seek to be and
wish were synonymous with all-
American as a world-wide sym
bol.
SENSIBLE RATESi ■
YOU CAN WIN CONVERTS
A Spiritual Chain Reaction
By REV. JOHN A. O'BRIEN, Ph. D.
.(University of Noire Dame),
You’ve heard of a chain reac
tion, in physics, especially in con
nection with the splitting of an
atom and the unleashing of its
tremendous energy. The splitting
of one atom leads to the splitting
of a whole
chain of atoms
which is the se
cret of the most
stupendous po
wer known to
physicists.
There is, how
ever, a chain
reaction in the
spiritual sphere which yields a
power and effectiveness not less
than that yielded in the physical
field. An illustration of this is
when one conversion sets off a
chain of other conversions.
E. Joseph Honning. an assist
ant shipping manager in Dun-
ellen, New Jersey, started off
such a chain.
“Tell us, Mr. Honning,” I said,
“how you helped to lead your
first convert into the fold.”
“I was keping company with
Marie McKee,” he replied. “De
spite her Irish name, Marie was
a non-Catholic. I explained to
her some of the beautiful teach
ings of our holy Catholic faith
and told her how much happiness
I derived from its practice, es-
pecially from hearing Mass and
receiving Holy Communion.
“I pointed out that a marriage
in which both husband and wife
practice the same faith would be
much more stable than a mixed
marriage. Religion would then be
a bond, binding us more closely
together, instead of a sword of
possible division. I invited her to
investigate the Catholic religion
amd see if its credentials didn’t
stamp it as the religion founded
by Christ Himself.
“Marie took a course of in
struction from Monsignor Dunphy
at St. John’s and before it was
half over, was convinced of the
truth of the Catholic religion and
of the authority of the Church to
teach in the name of her divine
Founder. She embraced the faith
and became a devout Catholic.
, “We were married in 1938 with
a Nuptial Mass and we both re
ceived Holy Communion. It was
the happiest day of our lives, and
Marie has never failed to thank
me for encouraging her to look
into the Catholic religion. It is
the source of our greatest peace
and happiness.”
Have you and Marie been able
to share your treasures with
others?”
“Yes, Marie’s mother had died
several years before, and Marie
had helped to raise her two
younger sisters and to manage
the home for her father. The
younger sisters, Dorothy and Al
ice, were greatly impressed by
the devotion with which Marie
practiced her faith and by the
joy which she derived from it.
“During World War II Dorothy
became a WAC, was sent over
seas and while stationed abroad
became a Catholic. She subse
quently married a Catholic boy
and they now have two children.
“It was also during the war that
Alice met the man she married.
Though he had been baptized a
Catholic in infancy, Alfred Gio-
vetti had drifted away from his
faith. Alice attended various
churches but none of them held
her interest. She remembered
how much the Catholic religion
had come to mean to Marie, and
so she began asking us questions
about it. We answered her ques
tions, and gave her several pam
phlets including ‘Why I Am a
Catholic’, which made a particu
lar appeal to her.
“Alice and her family moved
to Alexandria, Virginia, but they
returned for a visit about four
times a year. It was* during these
visits that we kept her interest
in the faith alive and encouraged
her to take a course of instruction,
then decided for herself.
“When Alice went back to Al
exandria, she got in touch with
Father Stockert at St. Mary’s
Church. He gave her a complete
course of instruction and received
her into the church. Her husband
then returned to the practice of
his faith, and their 1 children were
baptized. They are now attending -
St. Mary’s School.”
“Splendid, Mr. Honning,” I
said. “Y o u started a spiritual
chain reaction which led to the
conversion of Marie, Dorothy,
Alice and the return of Alice’s
husband to the fold. You’ve
shown how we all can start such
a chain reaction and thus lead
millions of churchless souls each
year to Christ Our Lord.”
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